Sober Science.

Fast Finish.

7 November 2016

Well it’s almost over. The marathon is in less than two weeks. This weekend I ran 15 miles with BB, and we did it at a good clip. Our overall pace was 10:12, which is very fast for me for a run longer than 13 miles. Considering my half marathon PR is a 9:08 pace, I can probably run faster for 15 miles than we did, but the real point was to get a bit of a pace on for the 15, push just a touch, so we’d be ready to run a little faster than our ordinary long run on race day.

The really happy part of Saturday’s run was that we ran a significant negative split (meaning, the second half was faster than the first half). And our last mile was a hard push at at 8:39 pace. Sub-9 minute miles are hard no matter how far I’m running. To do one at mile 15 feels very strong. Our last four or five miles were all below 10 minutes per mile.

So, while I have to keep up my mileage between now and next Sunday, I feel ready and fit for the marathon. The only problem I can foresee now is if we have to run through an apocalyptic wasteland because Trump has somehow won the election.

This election has been the most anxiety provoking of my life. I’ve usually had a clear preference in presidential politics, but I’ve never feared that one of the candidates would try to change or dispose of the constitution, and was a danger to the republic. Donald Trump is a horrifying catastrophe, and has already done great harm to the United States.

So the finish, tomorrow, cannot come soon enough. The choice is between sober, if dull and incremental, governance, and wild, lawless revenge fantasies. It’s got to end, and end badly, for Trump. A stampede to the polls to humiliate him. And everything he’s vomited into the public discourse.